Light's Shadow
by Quallevra
Summary: Follow-up to X8. Lumine is defeated... or is he?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Axl opened his eyes slowly. He was lying on his back in what appeared to be a large room, and at first he couldn't imagine where he was or how he'd gotten there. It took several seconds for him to recognize the repair bay of Hunter HQ. He'd never found himself waking up there before.

Yeah, he remembered now. They'd just taken out that punk, Lumine, and he'd been stepping forward to check the body (and maybe give it a good kick or something) when some last attack had gone off. The last thing he recalled was the tentacle lashing right at him. It must have hit awfully hard to land him here.

Axl frowned in annoyance. Well, he felt fine now. As he started to push himself up into a sitting position, he heard a familiar voice speaking his name. A moment later, X had moved to his side.

"Are you okay?"

"Hey, X. Yeah, I feel all right," Axl assured him. X was still frowning, but then, he usually was. "How hard did he hit me, anyway?" Axl asked curiously.

"Hard enough to break that," X answered, gesturing at Axl's forehead. "It wasn't serious, but you were out for a while. I was worried for you."

"Oh." Axl briefly fingered the large, smooth gem on his forehead. That would explain it, but it was back in one piece now, of course. He wasn't really surprised that X had been waiting here for him to wake up, but he found that he appreciated it, all the same. "So where's Zero? He wasn't worried about me?" he asked, somewhat snarkily.

"Zero's submitting the report on what happened up there. He asked me to let him know when you woke up," X informed him quietly.

At that point, one of the medics approached. "Ah, so you're awake. Repairs are complete, and all systems should be functioning normally."

Axl nodded. "I feel perfectly fine," he assured the medic.

"Then you're free to go."

* * *

A couple of minutes later, Axl was walking down the hallway. X had suggested he take it easy, at least for a day or so, just to be sure, but that probably wouldn't be necessary. Besides, Axl had a suspicion that X wouldn't have followed that advice, had their positions been reversed.

Suddenly, he stopped, rubbing at his head. He had felt the strangest sensation, just for a moment, as if there was something in there, that shouldn't be…

Well, whatever he'd felt, it was gone now. Probably just some leftover power fluctuation from sustaining damage, or something. Nothing to really worry about. Shrugging, Axl continued on his way.


	2. Chapter 1

**Part 1**

"In the wake of this incident, the government has declared the reliability and safety of new-generation Reploids to be highly suspect. Any further manufacture of them has been halted indefinitely. What this means for the Jacob Project itself is currently unclear."

Axl was only half listening to Signas. He was starting to get a bit concerned. It had been several days now, and the occasional odd sensations in his head had not stopped. If anything, it was happening more and more frequently. He'd been sure, at first, that whatever he was feeling would just clear up on its own, but it was getting worse, not better.

"The Jacob Project is still considered of vital importance to the future of the human race, and certainly won't be abandoned, but it is currently on hold pending a reevaluation of work-force options. Of greater concern to us, is that there remain survivors of Lumine's uprising, and they will continue to pose an inevitable threat until disposed of. That must be a major priority for the time being."

In fact, it wasn't just the occassional strange feeling. This last day or so, the sensation had been accompanied by actual dizziness or loss of focus. It always passed within a second or two, but obviously something was wrong. Axl hadn't said anything yet, but if this kept up…

"Are we after all the remaining new-gens, then?" someone asked.

"It would appear so," Signas answered. "By our intelligence, all of them were involved in the uprising. Present company excluded, of course," he added, looking at Axl. "Though the government has expressed doubts about our retaining a new-gen in our midst, as well."

Axl's head snapped up at that. "Hey, I was one of the Hunters who helped stop those guys!" he said indignantly. "I sure wasn't with them!"

"Of course, and I've personally assured all concerned that there is no reason to doubt your reliability," Signas reassured him. "I don't expect anything to come of it. The rest of the remaining new-gens, however, need to be tracked down as quickly as possible."

Axl frowned slightly to himself as he and the others left the meeting. It sounded like this would be a bad time to let on that there might be something wrong with him, in any sense. All he needed was some idiot getting the dumb idea that he might go Maverick too.

"Don't let what Signas said bother you," X told him. "We all know what a valuable member of the team you are."

"Glad somebody notices. And it took you how long after I got here to figure it out, again?" Axl asked lightly.

"I think it took him about as long as it took you to stop leaving a trail of collateral damage everywhere you went," Zero commented mildly. "But you don't need to worry about this," he added, more seriously. "The higher-ups may have their doubts about you, but as long as you're clearly fighting on their side, they'll leave you to it. Trust me."

Axl nodded. "Thanks." He gave them his usual cocky smile, careful to keep any sign of concern from his face.

* * *

As soon as Axl was sure that no one was paying attention to where he was, he headed straight for the repair bay. It was nearly empty at the time, and the nearest medic noticed his arrival right away.

"Axl. Is there something wrong?"

Axl shrugged. "I'm sure there isn't, but X thought I should get you to do a basic diagnostic, after I was hurt before, just to make sure you didn't miss any damage or anything, I guess." He rolled his eyes. "You know how he worries."

"I'm fairly sure we didn't miss anything, but I can do a quick scan, just to be sure."

The scan only took a minute or so, and once done, the medic gave a satisfied nod. "All systems functioning normally, so sign of any damage or malfunctions."

"X should be happy to hear it. Thanks, doc."

Axl was careful to keep his face and voice casual and cheerful as he left the repair bay, but inside, he was more worried than ever. That scan would have found any mechanical problems, and if the problem wasn't mechanical, that left…

Axl shook his head. He was a new-gen, after all. The defenses of his programming were perfect. So there couldn't really be a problem with it, right?

* * *

Over the following days, Axl did his best to act like nothing was wrong. Whatever was happening was hitting him more and more often, but it was still never more than momentary. As long as it didn't cause him to screw up while in the field or something, he was pretty sure he could handle it.

They were in the field often enough at the time, mostly going after the remaining new-gen Mavericks. It was handy that their targets were making themselves so easy to find. If they had chosen to lie low and disappear, it was unlikely that the Hunters would ever have found them. Instead, though, they were pulling random acts of sabotage or terrorism, apparently showing off their defiance of the world they'd failed to overthrow.

Well, but why should they hide? It occurred to Axl that new-gens, like the one they were currently hunting, would be above that. He could just imagine Lumine saying something like, 'We are the future of this universe. Do you really think that we would cower before outdated fools like the Hunters?' For that matter, Axl wondered, didn't they deserve better than to be exterminated by the Hunters? The inheritors of the future…

Axl shook his head hard. What was he thinking? He was here to take these jerks down, not sympathize with them. They were still just a bunch of filthy Mavericks. He firmly reminded himself of that as he resumed the hunt.

* * *

A number of Hunters, including their threesome, were gathered in the training area at the time, but Axl currently had everyone's attention. He was in front of the targeting range, showing off his marksmanship. By this point, he had started taking many of the shots while balancing precariously on one leg or twisting around backward. He still hadn't missed a shot.

He grinned to himself as he listened to the impressed murmurs of the other Hunters. Yeah, he was good. 'Of course,' he could envision Lumine saying. 'The new-generation Reploids are superior to anything that came before. Even a prototype can outshine an outdated model of the old world.' At least he'd have been right about that much.

The sequence came to an end, and Axl twirled his guns in satisfaction before putting them away. Perfect score. As he stepped away to let someone else try, X nodded at him. "Nice going."

"Yeah, bet you couldn't do half as well with that ancient thing," Axl said flippantly, flicking a hand at his companion's X-buster. X blinked and stared at him, clearly startled. Axl internally shook himself. He was a bit startled himself. What had made him want to insult X? "I'm sorry, X. I didn't mean that the way it sounded." He shook his head. "I've gotta go. I'll see you later." He turned and quickly left the training area.

X looked after him, concerned. "Do you get the feeling there's something going on with Axl lately, that he's not telling us?" he asked Zero quietly.

Zero shrugged. "I don't know. I doubt it's anything too important, or he'd probably have said something. Axl isn't exactly the quiet, reserved type."

"No, he isn't," X acknowledged. Still, he frowned thoughtfully after their departing friend.

* * *

It was near sunset, and another battle raged in the middle of the city. This time, it was a berserk mechaniloid they were dealing with. It was large and sturdy, originally meant for construction or something, and it was currently trying to tear up a major intersection. X, Zero, and Axl had fanned out around it, and were close to pinning it down, although it would take more effort to destroy it.

Most of the innocent bystanders who had been in the vicinity had since cleared out, except for a handful who had taken cover in the small bus-stop terminal. The automated doors of the structure had since been damaged, preventing them from leaving. Axl figured that was just as well. It was too close to the action for anyone to safely venture out just now.

He had to reevaluate that observation a moment later, when one of the mechaniloid's flailing limbs struck the upper corner of the structure, damaging it notably. Axl could see that the terminal was going to collapse as a result, sooner rather than later. Someone had to herd the mechaniloid away from the structure and break those doors open, and he was the closest.

Suddenly, his head swam, and a wave of dizziness engulfed him. Axl blinked hard, fighting it back, and as usual, it passed within seconds. He didn't have time for weakness. He had to rescue those people. But… 'Why bother about them? Humans, and old-model Reploids. Their lives are hardly worth saving.' That was what Lumine would say. Was it really worth going to the trouble of trying to rescue the likes of those behind those doors?

No, what was he thinking?! Of course he had to save them! Gritting his teeth, determinedly ignoring whatever impulse was trying to tell him otherwise, Axl raised his gun. X and Zero, he saw, had lured the mechaniloid somewhat away from the structure. Axl quickly took careful aim and fired, hitting the top of the doors and neatly blowing them open.

It was almost too late. Even as the people streamed out through the doorway, the structure collapsed behind them. The last of them barely got out from under, and Axl could see that several of them were pelted with small bits of metal debris from behind. He hoped they weren't seriously hurt.

* * *

Darkness was falling by the time the mechaniloid had been destroyed. The three Hunters left the scene to the clean-up crew and warped back to headquarters. As soon as they were back, X turned to Axl.

"You should have been faster at getting those people free," he told him severely. "A couple of seconds later, and there would have been fatalities."

Axl nodded. "I know. I'm sorry." X looked like he was about to say something else, and Axl had a suspicion it was going to be a question. "Look, I'll see you guys later," he said quickly, then turned and hurried down the hallway. He heard X calling after him, and maybe Zero too, but he didn't stop.

Axl didn't stop until he was alone in his own quarters, with the door closed behind him. He stared grimly out the window, although he couldn't see much but his own reflection against the darkness outside. His head feeling weird was unsettling enough, but now it seemed as if he couldn't even trust his own thoughts sometimes. That had been too close out there, and he shuddered to think what might happen if it kept getting worse. What was happening to him, and why?

'You really haven't figured it out yet?' His head blurred, and he could practically hear Lumine's taunting. Axl squeezed his eyes closed, putting his hands to his ears, but the words didn't stop. 'This all started after our encounter on the moon. Did you really believe you'd come away from that unscathed? That I wouldn't have a purpose to that last blow?'

"No," Axl whispered to himself, his hands dropping. He'd recognized the likeliness of the connection, of course, but Lumine shouldn't have been able to affect him like this. He opened his eyes, then gasped in shock. The reflection in the window still bore his shape, but it stared back at him out of golden eyes, and the armor had changed to white and purple. Lumine's colors…

Axl dropped to his knees, again closing his eyes and clutching his hands to his head. This didn't make sense! He was a new-gen! The defenses of his programming were impregnable. 'But don't forget, I'm a new-generation Reploid as well, and I'm far more advanced than a mere prototype like you. If anyone was going to find a way through your defenses, it only makes sense that it would be me.'

Axl shook his head wildly. "No!" he cried again. "You can't!" He could all too easily imagine Lumine's laughter, but after a few seconds, the echo in his mind faded. Axl cautiously opened his eyes. Looking down, he could see that his hands, and his body, were the color they were supposed to be. Still, he didn't quite dare look toward the window and his reflection again.


	3. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

First thing next morning, Axl sought out X and Zero. This was beyond troubling but minor inconveniences. If Lumine had indeed left programming of his own behind, which was trying to overwrite Axl's own mind, he needed someone's help, and fast. He spotted the other two Hunters at the end of the hallway, and hurried toward them.

"Hey, guys!"

"Axl. Are you all right?" X asked.

"Of course I am." He wanted, desperately, to say no, to tell them what was going on, but somehow, he found himself smiling at them and claiming everything was fine.

"You're sure? After last night…"

"Yeah. Look, I really am sorry about not being faster out there. I'll try not to let it happen again, okay?"

"Fine, as long as you hold to that," Zero told him.

They walked down the hall. Axl longed to tell them the truth, to cry out to them for help, but he didn't, and somehow he knew beyond doubt that he wouldn't. 'Did you think it would be that easy? That I'd just let you alert someone? No… you'll keep quiet, until I'm ready to speak for myself.'

* * *

When it was quiet out there, many of the Hunter personnel could be found in the common rooms, watching the news, engaging in various forms of recreation, or just hanging out and socializing. Axl was at a table with a handful of other Hunters. They were relatively near the east doorway of the room, but their attention was focused mostly toward the room's far side. Layer had been watching Zero for the last ten minutes, while trying very hard not to look like she was. As far as they could tell, the only person in the room who hadn't clearly noticed this was Zero himself.

"Think she'll finally get up the nerve to say something, before he figures it out for himself, I mean?" one of the other Hunters at the table asked, amused.

"Bet he knows already, and just isn't letting on," suggested someone else. "After all, how can you miss that?"

"I really don't think she's ever going to speak up at this rate," said a third.

"Or she finally will, and he'll just shoot her down anyway," someone else predicted. "I'll bet ten zenny that's what finally happens."

"Yeah, well my zenny says she never even gets the nerve to try it."

"Then how will you know when you've won?"

"My bet's that he calls her on it first," said one of the others. "Um… hey, can you lend me ten zenny?" he asked the guy next to him.

"Forget it; you still owe me twenty-five from last month."

"What? I do not. Do I?"

"Oh, yes, you do. I've got a note on it somewhere, just in case you try to weasel out."

"Ah, you can stuff your note in your ear."

"You could try that, if you want. Maybe I'll just shake that money out of you."

Axl, who had been listening wordlessly, looked over at the threatened roughhousing. It happened sometimes, and was usually allowed as long as it kept within certain bounds.

'Pathetic old-world Reploids and their pathetic shows of strength. Our kind are superior to all of them, but they're too foolish to realize.' Yeah, Axl figured. He could certainly kick both these guys' butts, and put them, and anybody else here, in their place. Maybe he should…

Clenching his fist, Axl tried to banish the line of thought. He couldn't let himself give in to these impulses. He couldn't! The two who'd been arguing were now engaging in a good-natured wrestling match, and he still felt a strong temptation to step in and pound them both. Afraid that he would do it, and that they'd really end up hurt, Axl got up and slipped out the door.

Once out in the hallway, he walked rapidly, heading in the direction of his own room. He passed the doorway of the next common room, but he didn't stop, although he thought he heard someone calling to him from within. He glanced aside briefly, then suddenly stared around in surprise.

He was back in his own room. But he had just been passing that other doorway. The echo of someone calling from it was still in his ears. It was two or three minutes' walk from there to here. Why didn't he remember walking it? It was as if he had just slipped from one moment to a later one, losing the time in between.

Axl leaned back against the wall, hugging himself, almost shaking. This was getting worse all the time. What was he going to do?

* * *

Yet another of the remaining new-gens had struck, and X, Zero, and Axl had headed out to deal with him. He had gone to ground in an abandoned factory. Now, the three of them were fanned out through the factory, trying to surround the Maverick and cut off his escape, so they could close in for the kill.

"I'm detecting him on the second floor," Alia informed them. "In a room near the back. It looks like he's holding there for the moment. I suggest you get upstairs quickly."

"We're on our way."

Sure, Axl silently thought back at the radio chatter, as long as someone hadn't hidden the stairs behind some of these boxes that littered the whole place. He jumped and climbed over another pile of them. "Where is the nearest staircase from here, anyway?" he asked.

"Try two rooms to your right," Alia suggested.

"Wait, there's a quicker way," Pallette broke in. "Axl, I've detected the entrance to a shaft right ahead of you. If you climb up it, you should end up practically at the Maverick's location."

"Okay, got it!" Axl assured them, spotting the hole in the wall. "I'll be right up there." He ducked into the shaft. It was somewhat narrow and perfectly smooth, stretching straight upward. There wasn't much room for climbing, but he had something that could fly in his current DNA files. Axl transformed and took the easy way up.

The shaft let out in a hallway, right near the doorway at the end. Once standing there on his own two feet, Axl grinned and readied his gun. "All right, I'm here and I'm going to take this guy down!"

"Be careful, Axl. X and Zero are still a minute or two away, so if you get in trouble, you'll have to hold out that long," Alia warned.

"No, problem. I can handle this," Axl assured her. He sauntered through the doorway. The Maverick whirled around to face him, and Axl aimed at him, still grinning. His opponent tensed as if to attack.

"Axl!" He heard X and Zero calling to him. They were here already? Axl realized that he was out in the hallway again. His two companions were just hurrying down the hall toward him from the far end. Looking over his shoulder, Axl saw a pile of collapsed rubble where the doorway had been. What had happened?

"What happened?" Zero asked, unknowingly echoing his thoughts. "Did you get the Maverick?"

"Of course I did," Axl heard himself saying. "He never stood a chance." He wished he could remember. The wreckage of the room suggested that the battle had indeed reached a conclusion, but not knowing how it had played out was unnerving.

Alia was calling to them again. "Can you hear me?" It sounded urgent.

"We're here," X assured her. "The Maverick's been dealt with. We're coming back now."

Alia was waiting for them when they warped back to headquarters. "I need to talk to you."

"You guys talk. I'll catch you later." Axl disappeared down the hall.

X stared after him. "He keeps doing that lately. Something's going on with him, I'm sure of it."

"It might be stranger than you think," Alia told them. "Right as Axl engaged the Maverick, I lost his signal. In fact, I couldn't get any signal at all from that room. I didn't pick him up again until you joined him. Do you have any idea what happened?"

They stared at her. "No."

"Axl told us he finished off the Maverick," Zero said. "He didn't mention anything unusual happening."

"Well, something unusual definitely did. I couldn't track the battle at all. I couldn't detect anything."

"Axl's been acting weird for over a week now," X said thoughtfully. "He's been trying to hide it, but there's definitely something wrong. If this is part of it, I guess it's no surprise he didn't say anything about it."

"If this is part of it, then it's beyond just Axl having something on his mind," Zero said grimly. "We can't just ignore whatever's going on."

"Signas is currently occupied directing the south-west operation," Alia told them. "But as soon as he's available, we need to take this to him." They nodded in agreement.

* * *

The next morning found Axl pacing his room. Voices in his head and alien thoughts were bad enough, but at least he could keep track of those. These blackouts were starting to scare him even more. He didn't know what was happening during them, whether he was in control and just didn't remember it, or whether …something else was. What if it really wasn't him during those times? Would this keep getting worse, too? He was afraid that, if it did, he would eventually check out one time and just not come back. Then what would be left?

The worst part was, there didn't seem to any way to stop it. He couldn't alert anyone else, that had become clear. He would be compelled to keep acting like everything was all right, and no one would be the wiser, while he was slowly losing a battle in his own mind to a force he didn't know how to fight.

Suddenly, he wasn't in his room anymore. Axl stiffened in surprise. It was as if he had blinked for just a moment, and opened his eyes to find himself here instead. He was in the Operations Room, where Alia and the others kept in contact from during missions. Specifically, he was standing in front of the console Alia used to track Mavericks' locations, and Axl realized in horror that the top of the console was pried open and his hands were inside, where they'd apparently just been in the process of tearing wires loose.

He shuddered. Luckily, there was no one else in the room at the time. He didn't dare to think what would have happened if there had been. Quickly, he set about trying to fix the damage. The wires hadn't been broken, he saw, just unplugged in mass numbers. He plugged them back in to their proper spots as rapidly as he could.

Just then, he heard Alia's voice, coming from what sounded like a short distance down the hall, coming this way. Desperately, Axl put the last of the wires back how they belonged and jammed the top of the console back down into place, then darted across the room and pasted himself against the wall near the doorway. He couldn't be seen from outside the room this way, but he didn't know what he'd say if Alia came in and asked what he was doing here.

"…And Signas agreed about the urgency," came Alia's voice from just outside. It didn't sound like she was stopping.

"So he wants to discuss this at once?" That was X. Axl sagged slightly in relief. They were definitely walking past, continuing down the hall.

"Yes," Alia told X, as they walked. "Although he doesn't want anyone else to hear about it yet, if possible. Signas said that if there really is a problem with Axl, we need to address it quickly and discreetly. He said those of us who know would hold an emergency meeting on it this morning."

"And Axl himself?"

"I believe part of the purpose is to decide how best to approach him."

* * *

Soon after, Signas, Alia, X, and Zero filed into a small meeting room. The room wasn't actually scheduled for any use that day, so they could count on no one noticing. Indeed, there was a cleaning drone currently vacuuming the carpet as they entered. The things were programmed on a work schedule specifically arranged to keep them out of anyone's way as much as possible.

"Power down," Signas ordered it, once the door was closed. Obedient to the voice command, the drone stilled, its endless low-pitched buzz dying away. The four took seats around the table. "So," Signas began, "you say there's something troubling going on with Axl."

X nodded. "For at least a week or two, now, he's been acting oddly. And he's been trying hard to hide it."

"Oddly how?"

"Troubled, distracted, and secretive, I'd say," Zero answered. "He's kept disappearing off to his room or wherever. Usually, he's the type to socialize."

"Usually, he's also the type to tell us whatever's on his mind," X added. "I don't think he's ever tried to hide anything from us before. But he's definitely hiding something now. We just don't know what."

"And then there was yesterday. Their team was hunting one of the remnants from Lumine's uprising, and Axl reached the target first. At that point, I lost all signal from the room. I only picked up Axl's signal again after the fact. He claimed to have eliminated the Maverick, but there's really no way to tell what happened. Apparently, the room was destroyed too thoroughly to retrieve much of anything in the way of evidence." Alia frowned. "Axl didn't stick around to talk after the mission, and I haven't had a chance to ask him for an explanation."

"If he has one. You know, the lost signal could have been the Maverick's doing," X pointed out. "All we know for sure is that something's bothering him, and he won't say what. I'd wondered if he was upset about what happened with the other new-gens."

"It does sound like this started soon after the original Jacob incident, or at least once you started tracking down the last of them," Alia agreed.

"Actually, considering that we only noticed gradually, I'd say it started right after the Jacob incident," X mused. His eyes suddenly widened as a thought occurred to him.

"Meaning right after Lumine knocked him out with his parting shot," Zero finished for him, having realized the same. "It could well be that there was more to that blow than we knew."

"I suppose that's possible," Alia said slowly. "The damage was repaired, but no one thought to scan his system for irregularities because he's a new-gen."

Signas had been listening closely to all of this. "You had better scan now," he said decisively. "If Lumine actually did something to him, we need to know. And whether he likes it or not, it's time to demand an explanation of Axl."

Alia nodded. "Right. I'll get to it immediately." They started to get up.

"And if Lumine has infected him somehow, we'll need to deal with it," Zero said, quietly but clearly.

X stared at him. "What are you saying?"

"You know exactly what I'm saying. If Axl is in the process of going Maverick—"

"Zero, don't. It's too soon to say anything like that. We don't know anything yet."

"Right. It's too soon to decide what to do," Alia said quickly.

"I know. But we need to be prepared for anything," Zero insisted.

"We do. However, right now, we simply need to learn what we're dealing with," Signas stated. "Once we do, that will be the time to consider options."

Alia nodded. "Agreed. Let's go find Axl."

They all filed out the door. "Resume cleaning," Signas ordered the drone. Its monotous buzz filled the room again as the door closed behind them.

* * *

About half a minute after the others were gone, the cleaning drone transformed in a flash of light. Axl stood up, staring fearfully at the door. He had cased the schedules of those drones not long after he'd first come here, and had long known the most efficient place to hijack one of them for its DNA and quickly hide the remains in a rarely-used closet. He'd thought that he might want such a handy form for eavesdropping some time.

However, he'd never imagined that he'd need it to listen to something so personal—or so dire. If the others found out what was going on, what would they do? They mustn't know. Would they try to kill him? Or would he find himself trying to kill them? No one must learn the truth. He couldn't let anybody find out.

Slipping out into the now empty corridor, Axl turned and ran the other way, toward the back of the building, and the nearest side door to the outside. He couldn't warp straight from the Hunters' base without someone detecting it, but once he was clear…

Now, outside, and across the street, he was out of their range. Axl disappeared, heading for the one place he could think of that might feel safe.

* * *

Alia was waiting, when X and Zero returned, shaking their heads. "We don't know where he is. He wasn't in his room," X reported.

"He wasn't in the general lounge either," Zero added.

Alia sighed. "Well, let's see where he is, then." She turned to her console and quickly scanned the base for Axl's signal. "That's odd. I'm not picking him up at all."

"What do you mean?" X leaned in to see.

"Apparently, Axl isn't in the base right now," Alia said, concerned.

"He took off somewhere?" Zero asked.

"It looks like it." Alia switched to a wide scan. "There, I've got him. Oh…"

X and Zero looked over her shoulder at the displayed location, then exchanged a grim look. "I don't think that's a good sign," Zero muttered.

"Let's go fetch him," was X's only reply.

* * *

Axl looked around, surprised and confused. He was in a small building, a monitoring shed or something, and he could see the bottom of a very familiar structure a short distance away, out through the window. This was the Jacob facility, right by the base of the orbital elevator. He hadn't meant to be here. He'd intended to flee to the long-abandoned ruins of Crimson Palace. Why had his body brought him here instead?

'Your body? Surely, by this point, you don't still think that's true?'

Axl closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "Go away," he muttered. "You're just a figment of my imagination, just a leftover program. I won't let you control me. Lumine's dead. So shut up."

He was answered with derisive laughter. "I assure you, I'm very much alive." Axl stiffened. He had _heard_ that, not imagined it. It was Lumine's voice—and it had come from his own mouth. "What you've been dealing with is no mere echo. I downloaded myself into your body, after my own was destroyed. And now, I've become strong enough to take control. Your mind will no longer be needed."

"No! You can't!" Axl tried to fight it, but he could feel himself slipping away, could feel another will taking control. His body wouldn't obey him—and then it was no longer his own.

X and Zero watched in horror from the doorway as the figure of their friend vanished in a bloom of white light. They had arrived just in time to witness what was happening, but apparently, well too late to stop it. As the light died away, it was not Axl, but Lumine who stood there in the middle of the room.

He was facing away from them, but then he turned, calmly looking up at them as if he'd known all along that they were there. "Welcome. You've arrived just in time to die."


	4. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

"Axl!" Despite what they'd just seen and heard, X cried out to his friend.

Lumine looked at him derisively. "You're not dealing with the prototype any more. I'm in control now." He slowly levitated into the air, and aimed a very familiar gun at them. "But I think there's an appealing irony in using his weapon to dispose of you, his former allies." He opened fire on them.

X and Zero both jumped back as the blasts peppered the floor. X returned fire, but his plasma bursts shot harmlessly past, missing Lumine by inches. "Axl! Can you hear me?"

Zero knew that X was holding back on purpose, still hoping to save their friend. He was fairly sure it was a waste of time. From what he could see, Axl was lost, and Lumine needed to be taken down. He leapt upward, slashing at the new-gen Maverick, but the hovering Lumine dodged his swing. Zero ducked to the side as Lumine shot at them again, then jumped at him from a different angle.

Again, Lumine adjusted his position, but Zero was expecting that this time. He jumped again, pushing off from the air, and struck at his enemy. This time, Lumine barely got out of the way in time, and Zero's saber carved a shallow gash through his outer armor. It wasn't serious damage, but Lumine was angered by it. Glaring, he rose higher into the air, and a glowing aura of energy gathered around him, then condensed into a dense white beam that shot toward his enemies below.

X and Zero both leapt up the wall as the beam seared the floor beneath them. "You won't escape!" Lumine vowed, as he adjusted his aim. The energy beam burned its way up the wall and ceiling, as the two Hunters jumped to either side. Then a large portion of the damaged ceiling and wall collapsed around them.

Zero managed to avoid the falling debris as he dropped neatly down to the floor again. Turning, he saw that the pile of rubble behind him nearly divided the small building's interior in two—and that X was on the other side, trying to free a pinned leg, even as Lumine drifted down before him, Axl's gun ready in his hand.

Just as Lumine came to a stop in front of him, smirking, X yanked his leg free, standing and raising his buster in one fluid motion. For a second, they were both poised to shoot the other. Then X slowly lowered his buster again. "Axl, if you're still there, I don't want to hurt you. You need to fight back against him."

"X, don't be stupid! Kill him!" Zero yelled, but X ignored him. He stared steadily at his opponent. Lumine, looking furious, started to back away, as his hand began to tighten on the trigger of Axl's gun. Suddenly, X reached out and grabbed his shoulders. He was stronger than Lumine, and easily held him in close quarters, but the Maverick's hands were still free, and he was now aiming the gun at X's body at point-blank range.

"You have to take back control, Axl. Can you hear me?"

"X, what are you doing?!" Zero tried to scramble up over the fallen debris, but it shifted under his weight, sending him sliding back to the floor. Desperately, he started slashing his way through it, but he would never reach them in time. "He'll kill you! Finish him, now!"

"No," X insisted. "Axl, it's up to you to stop him now. Are you going to let Lumine fire that gun? Are you going to let him kill me, with your hand? Axl!"

"You fool," Lumine said scornfully, and he tried to pull the trigger. His finger didn't move. Lumine stared down at it. "What?" Then he cried out in shock as a bloom of light seemed to well up from within. X was forced to let go as the form in front of him blazed with energy.

It fell to the floor, writhing, a shape that seemed partly Axl's, partly Lumine's, almost impossible to make out properly through the white surge of energy and light.

* * *

In the middle of the storm, Axl struggled furiously with Lumine. "I _won't_ let you hurt X! I won't let you hurt any of my friends!"

"You can't defeat me!" Lumine tried to fight back against Axl's sudden fury. "I am destined to rule this universe. I can't be stopped!"

"You're not ruling anything, and you won't hurt anybody else! This is my body, and my life, so _get out!_" Axl's determination tore through Lumine's ambitions, and through his shocked protests, until there was nothing left of them—or of him. Finally, finally, there was no one in his mind but himself.

Axl slowly opened his eyes. He saw X and Zero standing over him, looking down in concern. X softly called his name. "It's okay." Axl smiled faintly up at them. "He's gone." Then his eyes drifted closed again, and Axl sank, exhausted, into darkness.

* * *

Axl wasn't sure how much time had passed when he awoke again. Looking around, he saw that he was in the repair bay. He wryly noted to himself that this scenario felt rather familiar. This time, though, it was both X and Zero that appeared to stand at his side.

"Hey, guys."

"Axl. How are you feeling?" X asked softly.

Axl considered. "I feel perfectly fine now. Pretty sure that creep really is gone for good."

Zero nodded. "Good to know."

"Yeah. Hey, X." Axl looked at his friend seriously. "Thanks for not giving up on me. I don't think I could have gotten the better of him without your help."

X smiled at him faintly. "I don't give up on my friends. And I'm glad it worked."

Neither said anything about the fact that Zero _had_ given up on him, but no one had forgotten it. "I'm happy that you're still with us, too," Zero assured him. "But if you hadn't been…"

"Hey, I know," Axl said quickly. "I don't blame you or anything. You were doing what you thought you had to. I get it."

A moment of silence was broken by the arrival of a medic. "Axl. We've done a thorough scan, and there doesn't appear to be anything left of Lumine's personality. However, his presence does seem to have left some minor but possibly permanent programming alterations."

"Like what?" Axl asked apprehensively.

"Nothing that should affect your mental state," the medic assured him. "But the workings of some systems, such as your shape-changing ability, have been slightly adjusted—bringing them in line with Lumine's own level of capability, I believe."

"Really?" Axl considered. "He was more advanced than I was. So, really, that's like an upgrade, isn't it?" Slowly, he grinned. "That's actually pretty cool. Kind of a reward for getting through all this mess."

"I guess that's a good way to look at it," Zero said with a shrug.

Again, X smiled faintly. Axl always had been optimistic, and he had come to value that about him. "It's good to have you back."

* * *

It was after they'd left the repair bay that Zero took X aside to talk in private. "What were you thinking back there?! I'm glad that Axl wasn't lost after all, but for all we knew, he could have been. Were you trying to get yourself killed?"

"I was trying to save him. You know that. I did what I felt was right."

X wasn't apologizing, Zero noted. He had a strong feeling that, once upon a time, he would have done. "And what if it hadn't worked? What if there really hadn't been anything left of Axl himself?"

X sighed. "Then I guess Lumine would have killed me. But I still feel it was worth that risk."

"X." Zero sighed too, and shook his head. "You got lucky this time. Next time, you might not."

"I know," X said, an edge to his voice. "There've been plenty of times, far too many times, that a friend was lost past recall."

Zero nodded. "I've had to take down targets that used to be comrades, too," he reminded him. "I know as well as you do bad it can be. And I'm just as grateful that this time was different. But X," he looked at him grimly, "you can't count on an exception, just because you want it that badly. If someday, again, you find yourself facing a Maverick that used to be… someone you were that close to, and you hold back, it will probably get you killed. I want your promise that you'll pull the trigger."

"And not even try anything else?"

"If that's what it takes to not die, yes!"

"No, Zero," X said softly. "I won't make a promise like that. Because I couldn't give up so easily, without at least trying."

He walked away, and Zero stared after him in frustration. X's compassion was probably one of his greatest assets, and usually, Zero wouldn't have changed it for the world, but sometimes, he also feared it was his greatest weakness, and would get him killed some day. Unfortunately, Zero suspected that it was far more likely X could be faced with such a situation again than his friend imagined.


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Somewhere, in a hidden place where no one would think to look, the new-gen sat in the shadows. It had been several days, now, since his master, Lumine, had spoken to him through the body of that prototype from the Hunters' ranks. He'd told him to lay low, and said that he'd contact him, and the other survivors, soon. However, there had been no contact, and it was increasingly clear that something had gone wrong. It seemed that he was on his own.

Very well, then. Whatever had befallen Lumine, his advice had been good. Open strikes had been too obvious, and had only served to get most of their remaining number killed. He would have been killed by the Hunters, too, if Lumine hadn't overridden that one's mind and allowed him to flee the factory. Stealth was clearly the wiser road.

And so he would disappear, for the time being. Even if the others continued to protest openly, until they were all picked off, he would remain. Someday, years from now, when no one was looking for his kind any longer, he might find a way to sieze power, and get the better of the Hunters. Indeed, maybe he could go so far as to infiltrate them. Such a position would surely provide great opportunities…

In the meantime, he needed a new identity, and a way to make his way in the world. Maybe he would try bounty hunting. It seemed a good way to put his skills to use, while being accountable to no one, and so exempt from scrutiny.

He smiled softly in the darkness as he considered the possibilities.


End file.
